Around the World with Lightroom

In 2012 Adobe launched Lightroom 4, a new version of Lightroom with an integrated Map Module that allowed users to categorize their photos based on the GPS data in their digital photos. As an Account Supervisor at Edelman Digital, I ideated this campaign with one of National Geographic’s most famous photographers.

This campaign alone reached more than 2.7 million people and resulted in 3,749 photo submissions. The winner of the contest went on a once-in-a-lifetime photo expedition to Thailand with Steve McCurry. Adobe nominated it for a Webby Award and it was a Shorty Award finalist for “Best Use of Facebook in a Campaign”.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

As the Agency of Record for Adobe, Edelman Digital was tasked with creating a content strategy for the launch of Lightroom 4. The client wanted a campaign that highlighted the fact that this newest version of Lightroom wasn’t a consequence of “feature creep” but actually debuted time saving and meaningful new elements like the Map Module.

MY ROLE

In addition to leading the global digital rollout of Lightroom 4, I ideated the Around the World with Lightroom campaign, sold the concept to the client, and built the partnerships with Steve McCurry, Mountainsmith, and Blurb. Ultimately, Adobe saw 147,968 photo views, 65,730 video views, and millions of downloads.

PARTNERS

STEVE McCURRY

We partnered with Steve McCurry–famous for his work as a National Geographic photographer and for his iconic portrait of an Afghan Girl–to invite the winner of the contest to join him on a life-changing photo expedition to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

MOUNTAINSMITH

As a photographer and alpinist, I have a soft spot for Mountainsmith’s DSLR backpacks so, naturally, I asked them to donate a Borealis Backpack to the winner of the contest and to help us increase user engagement by promoting the campaign to their social media followers.

BLURB

Blurb makes really, really, nice photo books. They agreed to promote the campaign through their social media channels and to over 1.5 million people on their email list. They even gave the winner, and the runner ups, over $500 in gift certificates to make their own gorgeous photo books.

FACEBOOK APP

The entire campaign was housed in a Facebook App, built in-house by the Edelman Digital dev team. The app encouraged visitors to submit a photo of a recent trip of theirs, whether around the corner or around the globe, and to vote for their favorite submissions. All in, we saw 3,749 photo submissions and 147,968 photo views. The Facebook app directly drove business value by offering contest participants a free 30 day trial of Lightroom 4. As an added benefit, the winner of the contest chronicled her trip to Chiang Mai, sharing her experiences with the Lightroom community in a blog post upon her return.